Kurt W Mueller

Kerry Nash

S. M. Musgrave

S. M. Musgrave, Migraine, 2002. © 2004 S. M. Musgrave

"The artwork you see [at Ronda's Migraine Page] was created in Adobe Illustrator. It is one of several versions of similar images. My goal was to portray what a migraine attack looks like from the perspective of the sufferer. The image shows the onset of a migraine aura and the effect of the temporary blindness which I have suffered many times. Persons I must be with many times are unaware that I cannot see half their faces or that I am becoming nauseated and light-headed. They cannot know the suffering that is about to begin and the anxiety I am feeling to go lie down. I have been regarded as acting odd or even questioned if I was inebriated? It is hard to explain what a migraineur experiences and so I created the image as an attempt to convey the experience using my education as a graphic designer."

(Email to Klaus Podoll, January 28, 2003)

"The migraines are not the central focus of my art or my life. I think I deliberately do that to 'spite' the migraine. It has control of me when I have one, but I have control the rest of the time and I am determined that they not rule my life."

(Email to Klaus Podoll, January 30, 2003)

"I have suffered migraines since I was about 23 years of age. The first time I had an attack I thought I was going blind and I became very frightened. This of course was followed by intense pain and hours of suffering. Months later, a doctor informed me that I was suffering migraines and began to prescribe medications. Since that time I have resorted to many means to alleviate the suffering. These have ranged from prescribed medications to natural herbs. Hot and cold water, tying shoelaces around my forehead, T'ai Chi Chuan and Qigong exercise... the list has become rather lengthy. Some methods failed miserably and some met with limited success. Today I am using more effective medications and the suffering has been alleviated to some extent. It is my understand that I am one of the fortunate ones that does not suffer migraines on a regular basis. However, I can predict weather up to 24 or 36 hours in advance, Summer or Winter. I've had friends and colleagues joke that I should have worked for the United States National Weather Service. I've rarely ever needed to know the predictions! I sometimes suffer intense attacks before a coming storm and I've used this dreadful 'gift' to warn friends of bad weather. It is, however, a gift I would rather do without."

(Email to Klaus Podoll, January 28, 2003)

References

Nicola U, Podoll K. L'aura di Giorgio de Chirico. Arte emicranica e pittura metafisica. Mimesis, Milano 2003, p. 106.

Author: Klaus Podoll
Last modification of this page: Mon. May 31, 2004

Kurt W Mueller

Kerry Nash

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